Donald Trump repeatedly said $400,000,000 is a "very small amount of money" and confirmed he "probably" owes money to foreign entities.
The President's $400m of debt was revealed in leaked tax returns published last month by the New York Times.
Asked about them at an NBC News town hall in Miami, Florida, the President said the vast sum was a "peanut", claiming he was "very under-leveraged" compared to his total net worth.
And President Trump railed against the Times, claiming they had acted illegally, that their figures were wrong, and that if they did have his tax returns, they should be "in jail."
But asked about one major question hanging over his finances - whether he owes money to foreign entities, he said: "Not that I know of...I mean, probably.
"Because it's so easy to solve. And if you'd like to do I will let you know who I owe money, whatever small amount of money."
He added: "I want to say two things. Number one, it's a very small amount of money. Number two it's very straight. It's very straight. But it's a tiny percentage of the total worth."
He claimed: "Some of it I did as a favour to institutions who wanted to loan me money."
But he denied owing money to Russia.
He said: "No, I don't owe money to Russia. I owe a very, very small - it's called mortgages. People have a house, they get a mortgage."
The New York Times reported the President appeared to have as much as $400m in debt due within the next four years.
The Times also reported that in 2016 and 2017 Trump paid just $750 (£582) in federal income taxes.
His filings also show he paid no government taxes in 11 of 18 years that were examined by the paper.
Despite reporting hundreds of millions of dollars in income, Trump effectively erased his tax bill by reporting heavy losses across his business interests.
